That voice… if a glass had been sitting between the two of them at that moment, it probably would have shattered from the sheer volume.
Xia Shuran was startled, frozen in place.
“You mean… she’s the one in the photo?”
Chen Feifei said, snatching the phone from their hands. She glanced up to compare, then fell silent.
After more than ten seconds of stillness, rationality returned.
Jiang Xiaoyue walked up to Xia Shuran, eyes sparkling. “Wow, she really is pretty.”
Su Yao chimed in too. “So Chi Yu actually asked for your contact info?”
Xia Shuran opened her mouth. “Uh…”
Jiang Xiaoyue leaned in excitedly. “Did Chi Yu send you an abs pic?!”
Su Yao crowded in as well. “Yeah, yeah, did he? Did he?!”
“…”
The two circled around Xia Shuran, examining her from every angle.
“So Chi Yu likes this type—innocent little bunny? Or innocent little wildcat?”
“Hey, looks like even the ultimate crush can’t escape the usual tastes.”
“Our dorm is moving up in the world—Chi Yu’s girlfriend lives in our room!”
“And what a coincidence—she just took over Xu Yanxi’s old bed.”
“If I were Xu Yanxi, I’d be furious. Childhood sweethearts for all those years and she never landed him, but this girl just sits on a plane and suddenly it’s already at abs pics. Heh heh heh. Look at how Xu Yanxi usually acts, like Chi Yu belongs to her. Well, well, well…”
Su Yao couldn’t pull back the runaway horse that was Jiang Xiaoyue. “Hey, Xiaoyue, stop—”
But Chen Feifei had already spoken. “Jiang Xiaoyue, I’m telling Yanxi about this. You just wait.”
Chen Feifei was still looking at herself in the mirror. “Pretending to be Chi Yu’s girlfriend must really feed your vanity, huh. Only idiots believe those nonsense posts on the school forum.”
Xia Shuran let out a sigh. She’d barely walked through the door before being slapped with the “girlfriend” label, without even a chance to speak.
“I never said I was Chi Yu’s girlfriend.”
Chen Feifei smirked smugly. “See? I told you two were idiots.”
Chen Feifei tested the temperature of her curling iron, then wrapped a strand of hair around it. “Yanxi said she and Chi Yu were promised to each other as kids. Some people should stop pretending. Maybe she posted that forum thread herself—what an actress.”
Jiang Xiaoyue scoffed. “I don’t believe that for a second. Chi Yu barely even acknowledges Xu Yanxi.”
Chen Feifei and Jiang Xiaoyue started arguing right then and there.
Xia Shuran had no choice but to call for a stop.
“Chi Yu did ask for my contact info.” She glanced at Chen Feifei. “He asked for it right in front of the childhood betrothed herself.”
Chen Feifei called her shameless.
Xia Shuran wasn’t the type to take a loss lying down. She walked over to Chen Feifei and knocked her mirror flat.
Chen Feifei shouted, “What are you doing?!”
“Making sure you see clearly, so you can’t accuse me of pretending again.” Xia Shuran pulled out her phone and opened the WeChat contact Huo Xiaoyang had forwarded—Chi Yu’s account.
She sent a friend request.
Then she placed the phone on Chen Feifei’s desk. Jiang Xiaoyue and Su Yao crowded around too, everyone waiting for Chi Yu to approve.
The response came almost instantly—he accepted within seconds.
Jiang Xiaoyue squealed excitedly. “That profile picture is Chi Yu, right! Someone on the forum sold his WeChat before, and it was this same one.”
Chi Yu’s profile picture was a gray-blue expanse of sea. It looked vaguely familiar to Xia Shuran.
It seemed to be the sea in Italy.
Chen Feifei pursed her lips. “Could be fake. Anyone can use the same image.”
Su Yao said, “Feifei, you have Chi Yu on WeChat, right? Just scan his QR code and you’ll know.”
Xia Shuran didn’t hesitate. She pulled up Chi Yu’s QR code and let Chen Feifei scan it.
The scan confirmed it—it was indeed Chi Yu’s WeChat.
Xia Shuran’s sharp eyes caught something: Chen Feifei’s chat window with Chi Yu still showed only “You’ve passed the verification.”
She’d even sent him a message, but Chi Yu never replied.
The gist of Chen Feifei’s message was that Chi Yu had only added her because he lost a drinking game. The two had never exchanged a single word.
The phone remained on the desk. Xia Shuran didn’t pick it up. Instead, she leaned over the desk, angled her hand, and bent down to type.
The entire screen faced Chen Feifei, who was sitting closest and could see clearly exactly what Xia Shuran sent.
[Abs pic. Hurry up.]
Jiang Xiaoyue gasped. “That’s so direct! I’m blushing over here. Will Chi Yu even reply?!”
Chen Feifei had already been feeling sour from the friend request going through, like she’d lost face. Now she let out a cold snort. “As if. Who does Chi Yu think he is?”
The moment she finished speaking, Chi Yu replied.
[I’m out right now]
“Ahhhh! He replied, he replied! First time I’ve seen a live one! Even his texts look cool!”
Xia Shuran: “…” Terminal fangirl disease. No saving her.
[Can’t you take one while you’re out?]
“Ahhh, goddess, you’re so badass!”
Xia Shuran couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted to tape Jiang Xiaoyue’s mouth shut.
[You seem eager]
[Eager? Of course I’m eager. You already called me Chiara.]
“Goddess, goddess, what does Chiara mean? I don’t get it.”
Xia Shuran didn’t answer. She waited silently to see what Chi Yu would say.
[Let’s talk in person.]
“Ahhhh! Chi Yu asked you to meet up!”
Xia Shuran’s face showed no expression, but her heart was pounding. What did he want to meet for?
Xia Shuran instinctively resisted—she sensed something dangerous.
She hesitated for a long time, then typed and sent:
[Send an abs photo first]
A few seconds later, Chi Yu replied:
[I’ll show you in person when we meet]
After that message, the conversation ended.
Everyone in the dorm, including Xia Shuran, felt like they’d been in a dream.
Only Jiang Xiaoyue’s ear-splitting shriek reminded them that it was all real.